


Too Important To Die

by DAMalfoy22



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adorable, Blaise is a Good Bro, Blaise ships it, Book 4, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Cute, Draco Malfoy is a Good Boyfriend, Draco Malfoy is a Good Friend, Dragons, Dumbledore ships it, Dursley Family Bashing (Harry Potter), Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Good Slytherins, Hermione ships it, M/M, Parseltongue, Romantic Fluff, Slow Build, Slytherin Harry Potter, The Author Regrets Nothing, Triwizard Tournament, author ships it so everyone else must ship it too., everyone ships it, not sure if there will be smut but will let you know and add more tags if there is!!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-03 11:38:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21178802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DAMalfoy22/pseuds/DAMalfoy22
Summary: When the school turns against Harry due to the Triwizard Tournament, who will be the ones to step up and help him out? And what will they gain in return? Unlikely friendships are created and new discoveries made. Who knew one certain blond Slytherin could have such a huge impact on Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts!





	1. Chapter One

Harry sat in the Common Room of Gryffindor Tower, feeling more nervous than he had in his whole life. Of course, that was not true considering the number of times he had faced Voldemort, but in this moment, he still felt extremely uneasy. He knew that he was being irrational... Obviously, his friends would be fine with it...  _ Right? _ However, he no longer had time to think about it as Ron and Hermione had just walked through the portrait hole. Secretly, Harry wished that they would keep walking and not notice him, but his wish did not come true as Hermione spotted him immediately and rushed over to the table Harry was sitting at in the corner of the room.

"There you are, Harry! I needed to tell you-" Hermione began excitedly.

"Actually, I need to tell you guys something too..." Harry interrupted.

"Oh, of course! What is it, Harry?" she asked, eyeing him intently. Obviously, she was trying to figure out what was going on in Harry's head before a knowing look came into her brown eyes.

"Well... um..." He stammered.

"It's okay, Harry, we won't be mad," she said encouragingly, placing her hand on top of his.

Harry briefly noticed the angry look that crossed Ron's face at Hermione's touch, but he ignored it in order to get out what he had to say.  _ Besides, _ he thought,  _ maybe Ron will be okay with it since it would mean I have no intentions to be with Hermione whatsoever... _

"Alright... Well..." he began, still nervous despite Hermione's obvious support.

He couldn't help but wonder if maybe 'Mione had guessed wrong and was thinking he was about to say something else instead and would-. Harry stopped thinking at that moment and just blurted out what he had to say;

"I'm gay."

He watched his friends intently. Hermione's expression had hardly changed except for the small smile that was spreading across her face. He turned to Ron next and saw that the red-head seemed to be going through many emotions at once. He couldn't help himself from laughing out loud when Ron asked if Harry had feelings for him.

"No, Ron! I swear I don't!" Harry laughed, seeing the relief come across his best friend's face.

"Alright, then I'm cool with it, Harry," Ron said with a slight smile.

"'Mione?" he asked, already thinking he knew what she would say, but feeling the need to ask anyway.

"Of course I'm fine with it! Took you long enough, though!" She said, amused.

"Yeah, yeah..." Harry said, "So what were you going to talk to me about before I interrupted you?"

"Oh, right!" Ron said, sounding excited about something, "Well Hermione here found out what this 'special occasion' was that's happening this year at Hogwarts!"

"Oh? And what is it?" he asked, mildly curious as to what they - well, Hermione - had found out.

"It's the Triwizard Tournament!" Ron exclaimed.

"The what?" he asked, confused.

He saw Hermione roll her eyes at Ron for forgetting that he would not know what it was since he'd been raised by Muggles.

"Basically, it's where other magical schools come and compete in this tournament. There are extremely hard tasks that the competitors have to get through and they are awarded points. The school with the most points at the end wins."

"Does the whole school compete?" Harry questioned urgently, not wanting to have to be a part of even more extremely dangerous tasks than the ones he'd already been through in his Hogwarts career.

"Oh, no! You enter yourself into it. They only choose one person to represent each school." Hermione corrected.

"Yeah, yeah," Ron interjected before Harry could reply, "but you're leaving out the good bits, 'Mione! Don't forget about how the winner gets a bunch of money and 'eternal glory'!"

Harry thought about how that was the exact  _ last _ thing he wanted.

"So are you entering yourself into the tournament, then?" he asked his friends, already knowing their answers.

"No, of course not," Hermione said, "Much too dangerous just for a bit of money and fame..."

"Well, of  _ course _ , I'm entering!" Ron said excitedly, "Could you imagine? It's so much money! And the eternal glory!? Of course, I would want that, to hell with the risks!"

"Well, you go ahead and do that then, Ron... I'll pass." Harry said.

"What do you mean you'll pass?" Ron asked incredulously.

"I don't particularly want to be in a tournament and I don't want money or eternal glory... I just want to have a normal year at Hogwarts for once." Harry said truthfully.

He had no desire whatsoever to be a part of something so dangerous.  _ I've had enough danger in my life already to last me seven lifetimes, I don't want, nor need, anymore... _


	2. Chapter Two

Harry couldn't help but feel like something terrible was about to happen. He knew that he was probably being illogical, but he still felt it anyways. It's just that he's started to notice that bad things tend to happen only to him and so he just knew that something would go wrong with the Tournament.

That night at dinner, the trio sat at Gryffindor Table and waited for Dumbledore to start. For the past week, people have been going up to put their name in the Goblet of Fire. Harry couldn't have been happier when Dumbledore had announced that only witches or wizards who were of age could put their name in the Goblet and that there was an age circle that had been spelled around it. Harry slept much easier at night, knowing that the Goblet would not accept it if someone put Harry's name in. Even still, however, he felt an inkling of doubt.

Finally, Dumbledore stood and the whole Hall became silent, everyone wanting to know who would be called. The Headmaster made his speech and then, one-by-one caught the pieces of paper that flew out of the multi-coloured flames. By the end, the three Champions were chosen: Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour and Victor Krum.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't been called up, glad that for once his instincts had not been correct. He turned to speak with Hermione and Ron about who had been chosen for Hogwarts, but had to turn back to look at Dumbledore when he heard his name called. He looked toward the Professor's table to see the looks of horror and anger that were shown on their faces.

"_Harry Potter!"_ Dumbledore said once again, which is when Harry noticed something important that he had obviously missed before.

Dumbledore was holding a piece of charred parchment in his hand. The exact same that had held the other Champions' names.

"_Go, Harry," _Hermione said, forcing him to stand up and pushing him forwards slightly.

Harry couldn't believe this was happening to him. He didn't understand how this could have happened since three champions had already been chosen! There shouldn't be a fourth! _There must be a mistake!_ And even though he knew this and surely everyone else knew this as well, he was still being forced to walk up to Dumbledore. 

Once in front of the Head Master, Dumbledore showed him the piece of charred parchment which did, in fact, read _'Harry Potter, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry'_.

He felt himself freeze where he was, unable to take his eyes off of the parchment bearing his name. _How?_ He wondered, still not having fully processed what was going on. He looked up at Dumbledore and saw that the older man looked just as surprised as him, which was not a comforting thought for Harry.

Eventually, he managed to move again. He turned around to face the students and saw that most everyone seemed angry, obviously believing that Harry had done this on purpose and had found out a way to cheat the system. He found two things to be the most surprising, however. One being that Malfoy seemed not to be outraged, but to be contemplating something, instead. _It almost seems like he doesn't believe that I put my name in the Goblet..._he thought, but quickly decided to think about it later instead, as he had gotten a good look at Ron; the redhead seemed to be the angriest out of everyone in the whole castle. He glared menacingly up at Harry, obviously thinking that Harry had gotten past the age line and had not told him about it.

Not wanting to have to see Ron's looks anymore, he turned and headed towards the door at the back of the room which the other Champions had gone through.

Once he was back there, he was bombarded with questions from the other Champions and from the teachers who had trailed in behind him. He briefly noticed Rita Skeeter in the back of the room with a green feathered quill in her hand and a devious grin on her face, before he was forced to look at Dumbledore.

"Did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?" Dumbledore questioned intently.

"No! Of course not!" Harry exclaimed.

After that, the other professors argued over whether or not Harry had been telling the truth. Harry tuned most of it out until they started speaking about Harry simply being taken out of the Tournament.

"I'm afraid that's not possible..." Dumbledore said gravely, turning back to look at Harry.

Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. "So... I'm going to have to compete?" he asked, absolutely terrified of the answer he knew he would get.

"Yes, Harry... you will have to compete... You have no other choice."

He suddenly felt extremely faint and had to sit down in a chair that someone had moved closer to him. "I... No, please..." All he had wanted was a normal year at Hogwarts, yet here he was, entered in a Tournament he had no business being a part of.

"I think, perhaps, that young Harry here should get some sleep," Dumbledore said, effectively dismissing everyone from the room. Once everyone had left, Dumbledore placed his hand on Harry's shoulder, saying, "I'm so sorry..." before he too left the room.

Harry somehow managed to get up and stumble to the Gryffindor Common Room, wanting nothing more than to get some sleep before he had to deal with the day to come. However, he was all but tackled when he entered by Hermione, who had been waiting for him.

Happy that at least one of his friends believed him, he hugged her tightly as she said, "I'm so sorry! I can't believe this is happening! Do you know how _dangerous_ these tasks are? People have _died_ in this Tournament, Harry!"

"Hermione, I really didn't need to know that..." Harry murmured as what she had said actually sank in.

"Oh, right... Sorry." She said.

"Look, I just want to go to bed, okay?" Harry said around a yawn, proving his point.

"Yeah, okay... I'll see you tomorrow, Harry..." She gave his arm one last squeeze before she disappeared up the stairs.

Harry sank into his bed, grateful that everyone else was already asleep. He really didn't want to deal with all of the angry Gryffindors just yet. _That can wait until tomorrow..._


	3. Chapter Three

Harry woke up to find the room completely void of his roommates. At first, he had been quite happy with that fact, but when he looked at the clock, he realized that they had gotten up extremely early. No doubt, they hadn't wanted to be there when Harry awoke and had purposely left him alone, showing him that he no longer had their support; that they wouldn't be there for him when he most needed them.

Harry got ready for the day slowly, not wanting to get to the Great Hall early and have to sit through so much hatred for so long. As his stomach started to growl a few minutes later, though, he decided to suck it up and find his Gryffindor courage. He walked down the stairs and as he entered the Common Room, it suddenly became very quiet. Harry had known something like this would happen, but it still hurt him nonetheless.

Just as he was starting to make his way to the portrait hole, he was stopped by someone. Luckily for him, it was Hermione. She was smiling up at him and gave him a good hug before she chatted about trivial things as they pushed their way through the crowd.

"I have never been so thankful to have you as a friend in my entire life, 'Mione!" Harry said gratefully.

"Yes, well..." Hermione said, blushing slightly at the compliment and at how sincere Harry had been when he'd said it, "It's what friends do"

"Not all friends..." he said glumly as he saw Ron coming towards him from across the hall with a furious look on his face.

"Well... Perhaps he isn't your friend, Harry." She said gently, knowing that Harry would be upset.

"He'll come around, he always does," Harry said enthusiastically, ignoring the look Hermione was giving him that clearly said Ron wasn't coming around anytime soon, if ever.

Just as Hermione was about to say something to Harry, Ron interrupted, "Who do you think you are?" spat Ron.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"You think you're so special? That since you're 'Harry Potter' you can just break all the rules?"

"No, I don't think that at all" Harry replied adamantly.

"You didn't even tell your _best friend_ that you had figured out how to get past that age line!"

"I _didn't put my name in that Goblet!_" Harry exclaimed.

"No, of _course_, you didn't..." Ron said sarcastically. "I know why you didn't tell me. Because you are a _self-centered prick_ who wanted all of the glory for himself!"

Harry was about to respond when someone else beat him to it, "Oh really, Weasley? Because it looked to me like he was scared half to death when his name was called." Malfoy said, making his Slytherin followers laugh behind him.

"No one asked _you_, Malfoy."

Malfoy simply walked away with his group of Slytherins, not once looking back. Harry couldn't help but feel a sense of gratitude towards the blonde at that moment. Though Malfoy had insulted him, he had told everyone that Harry had been scared, which would show that he had not put his name in the Goblet.

He didn't know if it had been intentional or not, but either way, the blonde had helped him somewhat. Hermione then dragged Harry away from Ron and they sat down at the end of the table, closest to the doors. Harry took a moment to briefly look up at the Slytherin table, to find that Malfoy was watching him. The blond gave him a nod of acknowledgement and then looked away.

_ So Malfoy _was _doing that on purpose..._ Harry mused, _He believes me, then... But why on earth would he want to help me?_

He didn't have much time to think about it, however, as he only had ten minutes to finish eating and get to class. He rushed through breakfast and hurried after 'Mione to their first lecture. It was Defense Against the Dark Arts with the new professor, Alastair (Mad-Eye) Moody.

As he and Hermione walked in, he noticed that the table he would usually sit at was occupied by Ron and two other Gryffindors. He looked around to find a new seat when he noticed some movement in the very back. Zabini and Parkinson had stood up and moved to another table, leaving Malfoy with two empty seats, one on either side of him. The blond gave him a pointed look and Harry wasted no more time, dragging Hermione with him.

"Why are we sitting next to Malfoy?" Hermione whispered in his ear.

"Just trust me," Harry replied, not being able to say anymore as they had reached the blond's table.

Hermione sat to Malfoy's right and Harry sat to his left. They stayed quiet, none wanting to speak since everyone else would hear what they said. The room was deathly silent until the door burst open to admit Alastair Moody. Harry half listened as Mad-Eye spoke about the Dark Arts, too busy thinking about what Malfoy was playing at.

He was brought out of his musings by the blond himself who had begun to lightly drum his fingers on the table to get Harry's attention. Harry looked towards the other boy and found that there was a piece of parchment next to Malfoy's fingers that was obviously meant for him to read.

_'I know you didn't put your name in the Goblet of Fire.'_

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that someone else believed him as well, even if it was his supposed enemy. 

_'How could you tell?' _he wrote back and waited patiently for a reply.

_'We'll talk later, expect my owl sometime tonight.'_

_'How do I know I can trust you?' _Harry asked.

'_You don't'_ was the simple reply he received.

Harry didn't bother writing back and started to pay attention to what Mad-Eye was saying. He decided that he'd think about what the blond had written later on, after hearing that Mad-Eye was talking about the Unforgivables. _I thought we weren't supposed to learn about those,_ Harry thought.

Currently, the professor was speaking about what exactly they did and why they are considered so unforgivable. Suddenly, Moody took out a spider-like thing and proceeded to show the whole class exactly what the spells did by using them on the poor creature. Harry was horrified, to say the least. He couldn't believe that a Hogwarts professor was demonstrating the curses to a class. He saw the looks of horror on the other students' faces and noticed that some had stronger reactions than others. Harry looked to Malfoy and saw that he looked disturbed, but as if it didn't surprise him for some reason... _I'll ask him about it later_, he thought, deciding at that moment to talk to Malfoy later that night.

"Mr. Potter, come up here," Mad-Eye said.

Having not been paying as close attention as he should have been, he had no clue as to why he was being called up. As he looked around, however, he noticed that everyone else had confused looks as well. He stopped at the front of the room and went to turn around to face Moody but found himself unable to as he felt as though a fog was rolling into his mind.

This fog kept coming until it filled his whole body and Harry was unable to move. Suddenly, the fog parted slightly and showed him a path of what to do. It showed him that he needed to jump onto the table that Ron was sitting at, or else he would not be able to escape. The fog ensured that he could only see that one option, yet Harry knew that there must be other choices out there. He tried looking around, but could see nothing within the thick fog. He decided that, instead of following the path, he would make his own by pushing the fog away. He concentrated on remembering where Moody had last been and forced himself through the fog until he was facing the proper direction. Understanding that this must be magic relating to his own mind, as he should have been able to hear and see his fellow classmates, he focused his mind on pushing the fog away.

Harry closed his eyes and began 'pushing' at the fog. Once he opened his eyes again, he found Alastair was pointing a wand at him and had a very confused look on his face.

"Why didn't you jump?" Moody asked.

Harry could feel the fog trying to envelop his mind again, but this time, he pushed it away easily, with barely a thought, "Whatever you're doing to me, stop." Harry said firmly, surprising himself with his nerve.

"Alright..." Moody said, completely surprised as he stopped the spell, dropping his wand arm down to his side.

"What was that?" Harry asked once he was sure the fog had completely gone.

"That, Mr. Potter, was the Imperious Curse... Which seems to have no effect on you..."

"Wait, what?" Harry exclaimed. _He cast one of the Unforgivables at me!? At a student? And it has no effect on me? _"But... it wasn't completely ineffective... The fog tried to close my mind off, so I just pushed through it."

"You _just_ _pushed through_ it?" Moody said incredulously, "No witch or wizard has managed to throw off the Imperious Curse so easily, Mr. Potter... Well done."

Harry sat back down next to Malfoy, completely flabbergasted. "What just happened?" He whispered to himself.

"Obviously, you're more powerful than you thought, Potter," Malfoy said as quietly as possible towards him.

Harry contemplated that for a moment before looking back towards the front of the class. He wished he hadn't, however, as he saw the furious look that Ron was shooting his way. _This can't lead to anything good..._ He thought to himself.

As class was ending and everyone was packing up to leave, he noticed Malfoy slip him one last note before leaving.

_'Don't forget about our meeting tonight. I'll send an owl. –DM'_


	4. Chapter Four

After classes that day, Harry waited impatiently with Hermione in the Gryffindor Common Room for Malfoy's owl to arrive. At first, Hermione had been extremely skeptical about the blond, but she said she trusted Harry's judgement. Besides, she was one of the few who knew about his magical abilities and therefore knew that Harry would be able to defend himself just fine if it came to that.

Normally, Hermione would be doing her homework and studying in the library, but Harry knew she was worried about what Ron would do once he found Harry to be alone. Harry had scoffed at the idea of Ron trying to hurt him, but a part of him knew that her worries weren't completely off whenever he looked at the red head and saw the furious looks he would get.

Currently, Harry was rapping his fingers against his homework and no doubt annoying Hermione to death. Suddenly, a beautiful barn owl swooped into the room and landed on Harry's outstretched hand. Harry was surprised to find out that the letter was from Malfoy, only because he had expected the blonde to have a more majestic owl. Harry liked the barn owl, however, and quickly gave her a few treats.

"Well, aren't you beautiful..." Harry said absently as he unrolled the parchment. The owl hooted happily and then took off again, obviously not needing a reply.

_'Potter,_

_Meet me outside of the Slytherin Common Room after curfew._

_-DM'_

"Outside of _Slytherin_?" Hermione asked, having read the letter over his shoulder, "He wants you to go to their Common Room?"

"I guess so..." Harry said, trying to figure out what this could possibly be about.

"Maybe you shouldn't go, Harry..." Hermione said slowly, worry evident in her tone, "Maybe it's not such a good idea..."

"I'll be fine, 'Mione... I always am"

"I know..." she sighed, "I just worry."

"I know." He said with a smile, giving her a hug in appreciation for her caring about him so much.

"You should finish your homework now, you only have a few hours before you're to meet him," Hermione said as she sat back down in her seat.

Harry groaned, realizing there was no getting out of the homework. He looked around the room and noticed Ron glaring at him intensely. _He must have seen me hug Hermione... _he thought,_ Now he's going to be even angrier..._ Harry decided to forget about it and just finish his homework like 'Mione had told him to as he waited for curfew.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, it was past curfew and Harry quickly rushed to his room to put all of his school work away and grab his invisibility cloak. He double checked that his wand was in his pocket and then headed out the portrait hole, oddly excited to meet up with Malfoy.

When he got there, Malfoy wasn't in sight, so he observed the portrait of a snake that was obviously the entrance to the Common Room. He was going to ignore it when the snake started moving, flicking its tongue out and turned to face him head on.

'_I can ssmell you; show yoursself.' _It hissed.

Harry took off his invisibility cloak before answering, '_Ssorry, I am waiting for ssomeone to meet me here, I did not mean to ssneak around'_

_'You sspeak parsseltongue?' _the snake asked incredulously, _'Why are you not in my house, young Sspeaker?'_

_'I was supposed to be, but I had no knowledge of the Houses and someone from Slytherin had insulted my friends, so I chose not to be put here.' _Harry said. 

_'Do you wish you had chosen Sslytherin now?'_ the snake asked curiously.

Harry thought about it for a long while, wanting to give an honest answer, _'I'm not entirely sure; I'm not sure if my life would have been easier or not in Slytherin... It's sort of complicated.'_

_'What iss your name, young sspeaker?' _the snake asked, eyeing him intensely.

_'Harry Potter'_

'The _Harry Potter? Suppossed to have been in _Sslytherin_? Now I see why it iss complicated...' _The snake mused.

_'And what, may I ask, is your name?' _Harry asked politely.

_'My name, young speaker, is Serpens.'_

_'Rather fitting,' _Harry said.

_'Yess, I do believe it iss.' _Serpens said with a small hiss-like laugh. _'Do you need in?'_

_'But... I'm not a Sslytherin and I do not know the password.' _Harry said, surprised.

_'Ah, but you are a sspeaker who was meant to be in Sslytherin, so I will grant you access when you wish.'_

_'But I'm in Gryffindor... They have alwayss hated Slytherinss... How do you know I'm not going to hurt them if you let me in?' _Harry asked, confused as to why Serpens trusted him so much.

'_Young speaker, the fact that you just said _they _instead of _we_ proves to me that you sshall be able to get over thiss feud ssoon enough. Bessides, are you not here to meet one of my sstudents?'_ Serpens replied confidently.

_'Well, yess... But we have been enemies for yearss...'_

_'And yet, here you are about to have a friendly meeting with him.'_

_'I supposse you are correct...' _Harry replied, unable to say differently.

_'Of coursse I am correct... I feel as though you will do great thingss, young sspeaker... Perhapss it'ss time you became a Sslytherin and sstopped pretending to be a Gryffindor...'_

Harry thought about it for a while, before the portrait door swung open, showing Malfoy to finally have decided to come out and meet him.

"Oh, Potter! Sorry I'm late, I had to break up a fight between Blaise and Pansy again." The blond said easily, rolling his eyes at the mention of Zabini and Parkinson.

"It's no problem, Malfoy, I was just speaking with Serpens," Harry replied.

"Serpens? Who's that?" Malfoy asked, confused.

Harry rolled his eyes before he closed the portrait hole in order to show Malfoy the portrait of Serpens. "_That_ is Serpens, of course. Honestly, how do you not know the name of the snake which guards your Common Room?" Harry questioned with a roll of the eyes.

_'He doess not undersstand uss, of coursse.' _Serpens explained before Malfoy could say anything.

It was obvious that Malfoy was going to ask what Serpens was saying, but Harry stopped him by answering the snake, _'Right... I forgot about that.'_

"I forgot you could speak to snakes, Potter," Malfoy said, a glint in his eyes. "Well, are you ready to go?"

"There's just one last thing I must say to Serpens," Harry said to Draco before switching into Parseltongue easily. _'Serpens, switching Houses is not an easy thing and I have friends in Gryffindor and only one of them would switch with me, so I must, unfortunately, stay with Gryffindor.'_

The snake bowed its head slightly while he responded, _'Of coursse I understand, young Sspeaker... But know that the offer sstill standss and that you may sstill enter without a password if you sso dessire.'_

_'Thank you Serpens, I sshall keep that in mind.' _Harry responded, bowing completely before turning back to the blond beside him who looked thoroughly confused and awed at the same time.

"That was pretty brilliant..." Malfoy complimented.

"Thanks. So where are we going?" he asked.

"Oh, into Slytherin of course, you will be coming with me to my room."

"Why?" Harry asked skeptically.

"Because it is the most private place I know of," Malfoy responded simply. "Look, I can't give you the password until I know I can trust you, so I'm going to put up a silencing charm around me so you can't hear it, alright?"

Harry couldn't help but laugh lightly at that. "There's no need, Malfoy, Serpens already assured me that I don't need a password to get in, that he'd just let me in if I asked."

"What? But-What? I don't believe you." Malfoy said incredulously.

The look on the blonde's face was priceless, making Harry laugh even more. He hissed to Serpens to please open the door for him and Malfoy, which only proceeded to make Malfoy look even funnier when the portrait swung open to admit them both. The two of them walked into the Slytherin Common Room, Harry doubled over in laughter and Malfoy smiling slightly with an awed expression on his face.

"Only you, Potter, only you!" Malfoy laughed.

Finally, both boys calmed down enough to look around the Common Room. They found plenty of confused and incredulous faces looking back at them, obviously not having expected Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy to be laughing _with _each other rather than _at_ each other.

Malfoy led Harry towards the stairs, ignoring the stares from the other Slytherins, "So how did you manage that, Potter?"

"I have a way with snakes," He said with a laugh, watching as Malfoy rolled his eyes at him in response.

They made their way up the stairs until they were at the very top, where he then followed the blond into a room the same size as the one he shared with five other boys. The main difference was that the colour scheme was in greys and greens and that there was only one bed in the room, rather than multiple. The room had a decent sized fireplace with a rug in front of it and a couch and a few chairs settled around it. There was also a door on the wall opposite the sitting area that no doubt led to a bathroom. Straight across from the door they had entered was a desk with shelves on either side of it. As Harry ventured further into the room, he noticed that there were various potions ingredients on the left shelves and books on the right ones.

"How did you manage this?" Harry asked.

"They had a bunch of extra rooms since there aren't as many people in Slytherin, so I was lucky enough to have gotten a room to myself," Malfoy explained simply.

"Merlin, I wish I had gotten a room to myself..." he mused.

"Really?" the blond asked, sounding surprised, "I would have thought that, being a Gryffindor and all, you would enjoy rooming with your friends..."

"Well, it's great and all for the first few days, but it gets old quickly. I enjoy solitude more."

"Hmm... sure you're not a Slytherin, Potter?" Malfoy asked with a laugh.

Harry smiled to himself, thinking of the reaction he would get out of the blond if Malfoy knew the truth.

"I never said I wasn't," he said, smirking when Malfoy became confused.

"What-"

"So, why am I here?" Harry cut him off.

"Oh, right... Have a seat, Potter." Malfoy said, taking one of the seats next to the fire. Harry then took the one opposite to him and waited for the blond to begin, "Well, as I've already told you, I know you didn't put your name in the Goblet of Fire."

"Right, and how exactly do you know that? Even Ron couldn't tell." He asked curiously.

"It was quite obvious to anyone who was paying attention. You looked petrified and confused. Not even _I_ could have faked such a reaction so well."

"Alright... So what does you believing me have to do with me being here?"

He watched curiously as the blonde started to shift uneasily in his seat, obviously uncomfortable saying his next words for some reason, "Well... Look, Potter, believe it or not, us Slytherins don't hate you and worship the Dark Lord... And... Oh, forget it..."

Harry studied the other boy intensely before realizing that Malfoy was telling the truth, "Keep going, Malfoy; I believe you." He said simply, causing the blond to look up with confusion in his eyes.

"Why? Why do you believe me?" Malfoy asked doubtfully.

"For the same reason as to why you believed me, I suppose." Harry said, "Continue with what you were saying."

"Al-alright... Well, we figure that you will not be welcomed so much in Gryffindor now and we realize that you will need some allies if you are going to succeed in this Tournament."

"And the Slytherins want to be my allies?" Harry questioned.

"Well, yes."

"But... why?" He speculated.

He watched as Malfoy rolled his eyes at him. "Oh please, Potter, you are much too important to die. If you were to die, then the Dark Lord would take over and we'd all be screwed."

"Ah, I see now. Self-preservation. I should have known." Harry replied with a smirk.

"Well of course... We _are_ Slytherins after all." Malfoy responded with a matching smirk.

"So what is it that you and the Slytherins wanted to happen out of all of this?" he questioned.

"We want a truce. We want you to know that we are on your side and that you can come to us for help, just as we can come to _you_ for help." Malfoy said in all seriousness.

Harry sat and thought about it for a few minutes. He knew that he would get a lot of hate from the other Houses for creating this truce between him and the Slytherins, but he also knew that he may need their help for the Tournament since he couldn't very well ask Hermione to do all the research for him. Plus, he knew it would be a good idea to have people on his side who had no qualms about breaking school rules...

As he thought, he noticed that Malfoy was getting more and more restless. It was obvious to Harry that the blond didn't expect him to accept the truce. _He probably expects me to blow up at him and decline the truce completely and then tell the whole school about it the next day... It's not like I probably wouldn't have done it before all of this happened..._ Harry decided that he didn't need to think about it much longer, so he instead decided to put Malfoy out of his misery and give him an answer.

"Alright, I accept your truce," Harry said, holding his hand out to have the blond shake it.

"Really?" Malfoy said, looking at the offered hand incredulously. "You do realize that any of us would be able to ask you for help, right?"

"I know, as long as it doesn't endanger other people, I'd be happy to help," Harry said with a small smile.

"Alright then," Malfoy said, smiling back brightly, before shaking the offered hand.

Both boys then stood up and began walking back down the stairs towards the Common Room. He was surprised to find that all of Slytherin were waiting for them there, apparently wondering how it had gone. Zabini was the first to speak as he obviously saw that they weren't at each other's throats.

"So, Potter, you accepted the truce, then?" Zabini asked bluntly.

"Yes, I did." He responded simply, nodding towards the other students there as well as Zabini.

"And Draco told you about helping us out?" Parkinson pitched in.

"Of course he did and I agreed to that as well." He said, shocking the other students. He sighed before saying, "Look, I have come to an understanding about all of you and so I am willing to help, especially since I know I may very well be needing your assistance with the Tournament."

"Of course we'll help" Parkinson and Malfoy said together, flashing each other a quick glare.

"Okay, well I'm going to bed now. Keep in touch, Malfoy." Harry said with a smile.

He received a smile in return from the blond and couldn't help but notice that Parkinson glared menacingly at Malfoy for whatever reason. He shrugged it off, however, when he couldn't come up with an answer and quickly hid under his invisibility cloak before leaving the room, closing the portrait hole behind him.

_'Goodnight, young Sspeaker...' _he heard from Serpens as he walked down the corridors towards Gryffindor Tower.

He quietly snuck into the room he shared with five other people and then slid into his bed, wanting to make as little noise as possible. He lay there for a while, thinking of what had just happened. He was sure Hermione would be pleased with his decision to make peace with the Slytherins, but he knew it would no doubt be the last straw for Ron. He thought back to how civil he and Malfoy had been towards each other and decided that he rather liked the blond much better that way.

As he fell asleep, he made a plan of a way to help the Slytherins out.


	5. Chapter Five

The next morning, Harry woke up to find that everyone had once again left early. He hadn't really expected anything less, yet it still hurt him just the same. As he got dressed, he went over his idea for the Slytherins in his head, wondering if the other House would be up for it. Then he went downstairs to find Hermione waiting for him once again.

She looked extremely anxious as she tapped her fingers against her leg. When she saw him, she rushed over immediately and started walking him out of the Common Room. Harry was confused at first but once he looked around the room, he understood; all of the Gryffindor boys, with Ron in the middle, had obviously been waiting for him to come down the stairs. From the looks on their faces, it wasn't to have a nice chat over afternoon tea...

"Thanks, 'Mione, you really saved me back there," He said as the duo walked down to the Great Hall.

"Anytime, Harry," Hermione responded sadly.

It was obvious to Harry that Hermione missed Ron and the other Gryffindor's and Harry couldn't help but start to feel guilty. Seeming to realize what he was thinking, she protested.

"No, Harry, don't you dare start feeling guilty about this! You've done absolutely nothing wrong, alright?"

"Alright, 'Mione!" He exclaimed, knowing that she was right.

As they reached the Great Hall and looked at the Gryffindor table, Harry quickly realized that he wasn't welcome at the table anymore if the glares were anything to go by. He sighed quietly to himself and contemplated walking over to the Slytherin table to show he had made a truce, but he quickly decided to keep that a secret for now. Instead, he sucked in his breath and calmly walked to the end of the Gryffindor table, sitting down to eat his breakfast with Hermione.

Everyone at the table either ignored him or gave him dirty looks, but he simply pretended not to notice and continued to eat his pancakes. Luckily, there were no incidents as the professors were all still at the head table. Once he was done, he and Hermione left for classes where nothing more happened other than people whispering about him.

After what seemed like one of the longest days of his life, it was time for Defense Against the Dark Arts; his last class of the day. He sat next to Malfoy once again and immediately wrote the blond a note.

_'Common Room tonight, 1 hour after dinner._  
  
-HP'

Harry received a simple 'okay' from the blonde, both knowing that he was talking about the Slytherin Common Room since Malfoy couldn't simply walk into Gryffindor's. No other notes were passed for the rest of class and there was no sign that the two had interacted at all. 

Finally, they were released from their class and they both went their separate ways.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After dinner, Harry explained to Hermione what he was doing and what his plan was before he got ready to see the blond again. After the hour was up, Harry threw his cloak on and walked quickly towards the Slytherin Common Room. He didn't bother waiting for Malfoy this time and, instead, simply got Serpens to let him in.

Once inside, he removed his cloak, much to the surprise of the few students who were hanging around in the Common Room. After much ogling, one of the older students got up to go get Malfoy and so Harry waited just inside the door, not too sure of what to do. Eventually, the older student returned with the blond, who motioned for Harry to follow him up to his room.

"So, Potter, what's this about? You can't possibly need our help already." Malfoy asked as they went up the stairs.

"No, I don't need your help. This is actually about helping your Slytherins." He replied.

Harry couldn't help the smirk that appeared on his face as the blond looked completely surprised and even stopped on his way up to his room. Harry simply walked past Malfoy and opened the door for the blond, who had started walking once again. Malfoy then walked into his room, Harry following, and took a seat on his couch. Harry sat cross-legged on the seat he had sat in last time, waiting for Malfoy to start the conversation back up again.

"Alright, I'll bite..." Malfoy said, "How is it that you plan on helping?"

Harry smiled to himself, quite happy with his proposal before explaining what exactly it entailed: "I plan on helping the Slytherins by teaching them to properly defend themselves against the Gryffindors and some of the other houses as well."

Harry watched as the blond contemplated this for a minute. Harry expected the other boy to question his skills, in which case he was happy to demonstrate. However, he never had to.

"Alright then, when shall this start and where will it be happening?" Malfoy asked, much to Harry's confusion.

"What? You're not even going to question my abilities?" He asked incredulously.

"Look, Potter, I know you have skills and that you're powerful. I mean, you can hold off the bloody imperious curse!"

Harry couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. Everyone questioned and doubted him. Even Hermione had, and she's his very best friend! Yet here Malfoy is, just trusting what he said and believing him to be powerful. He didn't exactly know what to do with this information; didn't know what to say. He simply looked at the other boy before him, no doubt with his mouth wide open in confusion and shock.

The blond rolled his eyes before saying, "Oh please, Potter, I'm not blind nor stupid like everyone else in this school seems to be. The real question I have isn't about your skills, but about your motive. So tell me: why are you voluntarily doing this?"

"Well, it hardly seems fair that the Gryffindors and most of the other Houses have been taught some duelling spells by me and yet the Slytherins haven't been taught anything. Besides, you're no help to me if you can't even defend yourselves." Harry responded confidently.

"Well, well, well... If I didn't know any better, I'd say you actually _care_ about us, Potter" Malfoy said with a smirk.

Harry rolled his eyes at the boy in front of him, "Well, you're not my enemy right now but I wouldn't call you a friend or anything, yet."

"Oh, how you wound me, Potter!" Malfoy said dramatically, clutching at his chest and pretending to be offended, causing both boys to laugh lightly, "So again, where would we do this?"

"In the Room of Requirement, of course." He responded matter-of-factly.

"Oh of course, how terribly foolish of me for not thinking of that" Malfoy responded sarcastically, obviously not knowing what Harry was talking about.

"Basically, it's a room which becomes whatever you need it to be. So if I need it to be a practice room, then that is what it'll become." At the doubtful look he received, Harry said, "Just trust me on this."

"Alright, let's go see what the others think, then."

Both boys got up and made their way back downstairs. Once back in the Common Room, Malfoy explained what Harry had proposed and offered a vote in which everyone agreed to go through with Harry's plan. Once that had been decided, Malfoy wanted to go and see the Room of Requirement in order to be sure they would have a proper learning space. Zabini and Parkinson also decided to join them and Harry, knowing that they wouldn't be back until after curfew, brought his cloak and his map so that they wouldn't have to worry about teachers or Filch sneaking up on them.

Once they reached the proper floor, the three Slytherins watched curiously as Harry paced back and forth in front of a blank space of the wall. They were about to question his sanity when a door suddenly appeared before him.

All three stepped into the Room of Requirement and looked around in amazement, Harry following closely behind. The Slytherins could not believe that this room had just appeared before them. Not only that, but they couldn't believe that Harry was capable of thinking up such a complex and nice looking space.

They had fully expected Harry's version of a duelling room would look very Gryffindor-esque (shabby and completely red and gold). However, what faced them was an extremely large room of black marble with white detailing and white marble pillars in each corner of the room. Behind one of these pillars was a stock room which had everything one could ever need to practice defensive and offensive spells with. Hanging from the ceilings were large crystal chandeliers.

"Well, Potter..." Zabini said, still looking around the room, "I'm surprised."

"Surprised?" Harry questioned, "How so?"

"No one expected you to have been able to come up with a room that is so... pleasing to the eye." Malfoy said, "We seriously expected you to have no taste what so ever, going by your choice in clothing."

Harry couldn't help but roll his eyes at the three before him, "Oh please, I've never really had time to go shopping for muggle clothing before and my 'family' never allowed it. Trust me, I would have gotten much better clothes if I could have."

"Well, we'll have to fix that, then" Malfoy offered.

"When?"

"Next Hogsmeade trip; we'll sneak off and get you some real clothes."

"Alright, looking forward to it," Harry said with a smile.

Malfoy was about to say something else, but Parkinson quickly interrupted him with a cough and said, "Yes, we should definitely do that then... Next Hogsmeade trip..."

Harry caught the brief scowl the blond sent Parkinson's way but decided to ignore it as Zabini had started to ask him about which spells he'd be teaching them and discussing when they would have their first meeting. After about an hour, they had everything sorted out and decided to leave.

Malfoy went first, followed by Harry. Once they were out, Harry checked the map and found that Filch was coming their way. He quickly shoved Parkinson and Zabini back into the Room of Requirement and went to go in as well, but soon realized that Malfoy had kept going down the hall. Quickly, Harry grabbed his invisibility cloak out of his pocket and un-shrunk it while he ran towards Malfoy.

Harry ran right behind the blond and pulled him to the right so that they were pressed up against the wall. He then threw the cloak over the both of them. Harry heard the blond suck in a breath and when he looked at the other boy's face, he noticed the light blush blooming on Malfoy's cheeks. Suddenly, Harry realized exactly how close he was to the blond and found himself blushing slightly as well. Just as he was about to step away, however, he saw Filch start to round the corner and was forced to push Malfoy even further against the wall.

Harry stood with his hands on either side of the blond's head and the rest of his body flush with Malfoy's. Malfoy, who hadn't seen Filch approach, was about to ask what was going on but Harry quickly placed his hand against the other boy's mouth, successfully stopping him. Harry tilted his head towards the direction Filch was, making the blond see exactly why they had to stay quiet.

Once Harry was sure Malfoy understood, he removed his hand from the blond's mouth and placed it back beside his head. Now that he could only wait for Filch to pass, he couldn't help but think about the position he and Malfoy were currently in. He became painfully aware of how close he was to the blond and of how easy it would be to simply lean forwards just a couple of inches...

Harry quickly stopped this train of thought, however, knowing that he was only thinking this way because he was so close to another boy and not because of _who_ he was so close to.

After a few minutes, Filch turned the corner at the other end of the hallway and the boys were able to step away from each other. Both took a deep breath in, as neither had been able to breathe whilst so close to each other. Once they had gotten their breath back, they went over to the Room of Requirement and opened the door that had reappeared in order to let the others out.

When Zabini got out, he looked closely at Harry and Malfoy before smirking lightly and saying, "Did you two make out or something?"

"Wh-what?" both Harry and Malfoy stuttered, "No!"

"You sure about that? You're both all flushed and all." Zabini laughed.

"No, Blaise, we did not make out! We were hiding under the invisibility cloak which, for your information, has hardly any room under it." Malfoy said defensively, still blushing lightly.

Nothing much else was said after that as Harry escorted the Slytherins back to their rooms safely, only having to hide in an old classroom once along the way. Once they reached the Slytherin entrance, Harry spoke to Serpens, getting him to open the door which surprised Parkinson and Zabini who had forgotten he could speak to snakes.

"Goodnight, Potter" Parkinson and Malfoy said at the same time, giving each other a glare in the process.

"Goodnight," Harry said before putting on his invisibility cloak and walking back to his own bed in Gryffindor.


End file.
